Best friend of Maribel Gonzales remembers her on graduation day

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - "If she’s listening to tell her that I love her. I guess that’s pretty much all I can say.”

It’s hard for Tucson Prep grad Destiny Torres to put into words what Thursday night means to her.

Not only is it marking a milestone she never though would come. It’s realizing that when she crossed the stage Thursday, a piece of her was missing.

“I didn’t think I was going to graduate,” said Torres. "I don’t know. I wish she could have been here right now.”

Her best friend, Maribel Gonzales, was found dead five years ago today at the age of 13. Identified by family from a small pair of butterfly wings.

"Her mom was hoping it was somebody else’s tattoo exactly and I was hoping the same thing but it wasn’t.”

Now, a similar tattoo sits just below Destiny’s collarbone. A way for her to remember her best friend that she is never truly gone.

"Every time I see it its there and it’s her name and I think wow, she’s really always with me,” said Torres.

Thursday night she paid tribute to Maribel making sure to bring her along into this next chapter of life.

“She’s here and she’s going to see me walk across the stage.”

Thinking of what it would have been like to toss her cap in the air, her best friend by her side. Something that will never happen, but if it had, Destiny knows they both would have great things ahead.

“I know she would have succeeded. That’s all I really know. She would have done good for herself because that’s what she wanted.”

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